The Nexus Ascendant.

The air inside the*Eclipse Chaser*'s hidden chamber reeked of burnt herbs and ozone. Eldrin slumped against the steel bulkhead, his left arm encased in jagged**Origin Circuitry**, the blue veins of the **grain** now creeping past his collarbone like frost on a dying tree.

Every breath sent needles of pain through his ribsOphira's parting gift from the abyss. Across the dim-lit room, Tira curled into herself, her fingers clawing at the **third shard** embedded in her chest. Its light flickered erratically, threaded with black tend rilsOphira's corruption.

Liora paced, her emerald cloak whispering against the floor. The **Essence Seeker** lay in pieces at her feet, its shattered needle still twitching.

She's not just collecting shards," she muttered, her voice stripped of its usual razor-edge. She's *rewriting* them."

Nim's spider-mech whirred as she recalibrated its fractured core. So what's the play? Storm the Nexus with a toothpick and hope?"

Jace, gaunt from resurrection's toll, sharpened a throwing knife against his boot. We need leverage.

Something she *wants* more than shards."

A knock echoedthree precise raps. The door slid open, revealing a hooded figure, his cloak stitched with silver-eyed ravens. The **Nightwatcher**.

Eldrin's **grain** flared in warning.

The stranger lowered his hood, revealing a face carved by time and shadow. His left eye was normal; his right, a pulsing**shard-fragment** embedded in the socket.

You've been chasing ghosts, Chaos Child,"he said, his voice a graveled whisper. Ophira isnt your sister. She's *your shadow*."

Lioras dagger flashed to his throat. Speak plainly, or lose the tongue."

The Nightwatcher didnt flinch. The Titans didnt just shatter the core. They split *consciousness* itself."He tapped his shard-eye. Ophira is the half that craves dominion. You, Eldrin, are the half that *burns*."

A memory tore through Eldrin**the Titan altar, the split shard, Liora's scream as Ophira pushed her into the abyss.**

Liar, "Eldrin growled, chaos-fire igniting in his palm.

The Nightwatcher seized his wrist. The **grain** *screamed*, its light flaring crimson. Visions erupted:

- **A laboratory carved from Titan bone."*

- **Two childrenEtdrin and Ophirastrapped to slabs, a shard hovering above them.**

- **A voice: Which will you be? The blade or the hand that wields it?**

Eldrin recoiled. What *is* this?"

Your birth," the Nightwatcher said. You were never *born*. You were*forged*."

---

Tira convulsed, her shard's light sputtering. Shes*inside*my head"

Liora knelt, pressing a vial of glowing liquid to Tira's lips. Drink. Itll mute the resonance."

The Nightwatcher's shard-eye flickered. Ophira's already claimed the sixth shard. The seventh lies in the**Heartforge**theTitans'crucible.

If she reaches it first, shell *unmake* you."

Nim's mech-legs clicked. So we smash the forge. Easy."

No." The Nightwatcher turned to Eldrin. You must *claim* it. Become what you were meant to be."

A weapon,"Jace spat.

A *counterbalance*."The Nightwatcher's gaze locked onto Liora. You knew. All along."

Lioras mask cracked. 1 suspected."

Silence.

Eldrin's fire dimmed. You *used* me."

↑ *saved* you,"Liora hissed. Ophira wouldve devoured you as a child. I hid you in that village. I *made* you human."

The **grain** pulsed**a lie? A truth?**

The Nightwatcher unfolded a map**the Titan's last testament.**

The**Heartforge** glowed at its center, a molten scar in the world's flesh. Ophi ra's already en route. You have hours, at best."

Tira gasped. The **third shard***thrummed*, its light syncing with Eldrin's**grain**. She's *calling* it,"she whispered. The forgeit's *singing*."

Jace flipped his knife. Then we silence it."

The Nightwatcher gripped Eldrin's shoulder. Listen well, Chaos Child. The forge wont test your strength. Itl test your *will*. Ophira believes power is control. But true power"

"-is *surrender*,"Eldrin finished, the words foreign yet familiar.

The**grain** burned colder.

Liora's dagger hovered at the Nightwatcher's throat. Why help us?"

His shard-eye dimmed. Because I *failed* the Titans. I wont fail their legacy."

A tremor shook the ship. The **Eclipse Chaser**'s alarms wailed**Ophira's shadow was near.**

Nim cursed, slamming the console. We've got company!"

Eldrin stared at his reflection in the steel wall**the **grain** now framed his left eye like a crown of thorns."*

"Weapon or man?*

The Nightwatcher's whisper slithered through the chaos:

**The forge awaits, child of chaos. Will you burnor be burned?"*

---

The chamber door *screamed* open.

Not Ophira.**Isolde.**

Her armor was cracked, her Holy Lance dripping black ichor. Her shadow stretched unnaturally behind her"*a puppet's grin etched in frost.**

Youre out of time,"she rasped. The forge's gates are opening. And *shes* already inside."

Behind her, the ship's corridor *breathed**alive with Ophira's vines.**

Eldrin's fire roared to life.

The final game had begun.